Heaven at its Darkest Hour
by Merida's Hair
Summary: It is said that after death a person's soul can live on, even when that person is said not to have one at all. Not what you would think, postmusical, oneshot


**A/N: Hellooooooo!!!! Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving. Anyway I got this idea sort of from an episode of "The Twilight Zone." Which is one of my favorite tv shows. (The original series NOT the new series). I started writing this a few weeks ago, but I forgot where I was going with this. I either remembered or got a new idea for it today, and I was able to finish it. Yay!**

**A/N: I know its a bit vague, but its vague for a reason. **

**Warning: It gets a bit disturbing at times, but it is in the Supernatural section. **

It was a cold, foggy evening in San Francisco. A mysterious evening, mused Elphaba Thropp-Tiggular. She sat on the couch facing the fireplace, cat in her lap. The small townhouse that she and Yero called home was completely silent. It gave out a sort of hollow sound and feeling to it. She would turn on the television, but somehow she felt that it would almost make the house more eerie. Suddenly, she heard a noise at the door. Like the cat pawing at the door, but that couldn't be it considering that the cat was on her lap. This continued for a few minutes before the doorbell was rang. Annoyed she got up, pushing the animal off of her lap and walked over to the tall wooden door and opened it.

"Hello? Anybody out there?" She asked into the night. Nothing. She turned around to go back inside when she heard a small voice.

"Hello." The voice was tiny and wistful. Elphaba whipped around in the doorframe. Still nothing. A breeze hit her in the face, causing her to shiver.

"Okay I know you're out there! You better make yourself known or-"

"Down here." The voice came again. Elphaba looked down. Sure enough there was somebody. A small child, maybe four or five, carrying a bundle of some sorts in her arms with a calm innocent look on her face.

"Who are you?" Elphaba asked. The girl didn't answer just continued to stare.

"Why are you here?" Elphaba tried again. This time the child answered.

"I don't know. I can't go anywhere. My legs won't let me." She said bluntly.

"What do you mean your legs won't let you?" Elphaba asked, confused.

"I can't walk." She said. Elphaba felt a sort of twinge in her heart. It reminded her of Nessarose, her sister. Sighing she crouched down to eye level with the girl.

"Could you walk before?"

"I don't know. I don't remember anything. I just remember being right here." Elphaba was beginning to get confused, and a bit annoyed. Why would somebody leave an amnesiac, maybe-crippled four year old on her front step on one of the coldest night of the year? She then realized that she couldn't leave the girl outside all night. Elphaba wasn't that heartless.

"Here, child I'll help you inside." The girl nodded in gratitude, and Elphaba slowly lifted her up and carried her inside. She decided that the couch was the best place to put her. Still, she thought: What was she going to do? Call the police, a neighbor?  
After she set the girl on the couch, she took a seat on a chair opposite her.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Elphaba asked the little girl.

"No." She said. A few moments of silence passed before the girl started squirming in her seat trying to get her legs to move into a more comfortable position. They wouldn't budge. She sighed and placed her small bundle next to her. The cat, who had been sitting next to Elphaba, sense the child's discomfort and climbed into her lap.

Elphaba meanwhile was starting to get more and more confused and anxious. The girl was answering her questions so vaguely, but seemed to think about her answer. She decided to try asking her name again.

"Child? I want to get you some help, but first I need to know your name."

The girl thought a bit for this question before answering.

"Summer. I think my name was Summer." She answered with a smile.

"Summer. That's a very nice name." Elphaba told the little girl. After giving Summer some instant hot cocoa, she made her way over to the phone and dialed the local police station, which she decided would be the best choice to get help for the mysterious child.

After a few rings, a person picked up on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Oh hello. I'm calling to report a lost child turning up on my doorstep-"

Suddenly, she froze and dropped the phone. The cord dangling a few inches off the ground. An image started to form in front of her eyes, taking the place of the image of her kitchen. At first it was just colors swirling around. Green, blue, grey, and a bit of pink. Then the colors formed blurry shapes, and eventually the image became sharper and more focused.

Elphaba gasped at what she saw. In front of her was a green child, perhaps nine or ten, and a girl in a wheelchair about five. The two were in a small forest area beside their home.

"_Fabala! Come on its first sunny day in summer! The child was jubilant, nearly jumping up and down on her seat, despite the fact that she had no ability to move her legs._

"_I don't see what your so excited about Nessa. Summer just makes all the crops dry out, and makes everyone sweaty." Fabala said crossly._

"_But summer is the best! There's no lessons, and you get to go swimming, and.-and-and-"_

"_I know you love summer Nessie." She chuckled. "Maybe we should call you Summer, instead of Nessarose."_

"_Yah!" She squealed. "I love that name. It describes me perfectly!" She smiled happily. Fabala picked up Nessa and settled her onto the ground. The older girl then rummaged through the bag she had with her for their lunch. As the two ate, Nessa's eyes lit up with an idea._

"_If I'm Summer, than you should be Winter, because you seem to like the cold and snow much more than the heat." The other girl furrowed her brow a bit before giving a response to her sister._

"_I don't like the cold to much, but I have to admit I prefer winter to summer."_

"_Elphie! She poked her sister. "You ruined it!"_

"_Ruined what?"_

"_I don't know. Why must you be so dull and cross?"_

"_I am not dull and cross!"_

"_Oh yah, prove it!" With that Fabala attacked her sister with tickles._

"_Elphie stop! Stop!"_

"_Say that I'm not dull and cross if you want me to stop!"_

"_Fine! Your not dull and cross!" Fabala laughed and stopped tickling Nessa. The two lay side by side on the soft cool grass._

"_Fabala?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_I wish it could always be this way. Just always laughing and having fun."_

_Fabala wish that could be. But even in her young life she knew that it wouldn't."_

"_Me too Nessie."_

Elphaba blinked several times as she came back to reality. The image of the kitchen came back into focus. What in Oz just happened?

"Miss Elphaba? Are you alright?" Asked a small voice.

"I'm fine." Suddenly a muffled "Hello?" came from below her. Elphaba realized that she still was talking to the policeman and picked up the phone.

"Sorry…..Yes….that's right a lost child at my doorstep." She continued on telling him everything she knew about the child, and a few questions about herself.

"Alright then Mrs. Fae Johnsen, we'll be right over to see if we can help Summer."

"Thank you Officer." She hung up the phone, and went back to her seat in the living room.

"Summer? I just called a policeman. They're going to come here and ask a few questions, so you can get some help with your legs and figure out where you come from alright?"

"Okay."

Elphaba went back to thinking about the strange vision-like memory she had. She remembered the scene after a few seconds of watching it. It was the beginning of summer, and Nessa and her were going for a walk in the forest area near Colwen Grounds. It was one of the sweeter memories of her and Nessa. The strangest thing was, the younger version of Nessarose looked very familiar. Which would obviously make sense, seeing as it was her sister. But she was familiar in a different way. Like she had seen the child someplace before.

That's when it hit her. _Summer_. She glanced up from her musings to look at the child, and sure enough Summer was the spitting image of little Nessa. Her eyes widened and she shot up from her seat.

"Miss Elphaba?" The little girl asked.

"I'm fine, I just need to use the restroom." She ran upstairs and into the bathroom in her room bedroom.

It didn't make sense. How could this little girl be Nessarose? First of all Nessa was dead, and second of all she had been a grown woman when she had died. But it all fit together. She was crippled, looked just like her and said her name was Summer like in the nickname Elphaba had come up for her in the memory. How could she be here though?

She thought about this for a while, pacing back and forth. No logical answers came.

Suddenly something her mother told her before she died floated into her head.

"_Fabala, did you know that sometimes a person's soul can live on after they die?_

"_Really?" Three-year-old Elphaba asked her mother._

"_Yes. It can be rare, but sometimes a person also sees their favorite memory before they die, and their soul takes the age they were in that memory."_

Elphaba frowned at this, as many questions filled her mind.

Could a soul really live on?  
What did this mean about Summer?

Does the "memory scene" Elphaba had mean that she was going to die soon? –No that can't be it. According to her mother it was supposed to happen right before you die, besides that wasn't exactly her favorite memory.

Perhaps that was Nessa's memory right before she died?"

Elphaba laughed suddenly. Where had her sanity gone? It must be from the cold night. Her mother had just said many things about death just before she died, some of the things even contradicting the other, if she remembered correctly. Besides there was no way Summer could be Nessarose's living soul of some sorts! It was completely impossible. She hadn't remembered anything of her past life. Or she did, but was afraid to tell a stranger. Yes that was it. She was afraid to tell her. Besides when did Elphaba start thinking so spiritually anyway? Her thought process hadn't changed much, yet the way she thought had significantly.

The other similarities between them were just some strange coincidence. Right. Of course.

Elphaba stared into the mirror in the bathroom. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Her eyes were opened wide, and her skin had turned several shades of green lighter. It had been a long time since she's been this frazzled. Taking a deep breath she walked out the bathroom, downstairs and back into the living room.

Peering down from the staircase she could see that Summer had fallen asleep. She smiled slightly, and quietly walked down the stairs.

As she made her way around the couch that contained the little girl, she accidentally knocked down the bundle Summer had with her. She bent down to pick it up, when she noticed something sparkling underneath the cloth. Curious, she unwrapped the bundle and gasped yet again at what she saw.

It was the ruby slippers.

"You remember those don't you Fabala?" Elphaba was too much in shock to hear what was said to her.

"W-What?"

"I know you remember them Fabala. You magicked them for me so I could walk. They don't work anymore though." It was Summer who was talking, yet it wasn't. The confused little girl from before had disappeared and was replaced by an almost unemotional one. Steely grey, hollow ones replaced her bright blue eyes.

Elphaba felt a chill run through her and she took a few steps back.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"Its Nessie, Elphaba remember? The sister you forgot about. The sister you let get crushed by a flying house."

"No it can't be! Its not possible!" Elphaba was almost shrill now.

"Of course it is. Don't you remember what Mama told us? I'm back Elphaba. But I'm not letting you leave me behind again. You have to pay." She bore her grey eyes into Elphaba's brown ones with her emotionless gaze. Elphaba fell back onto her chair, panic setting in.

"No your not Nessa! Nessa was sweet and kind. Your what they turned you into! A wicked witch!"

"Your one to talk, Elphaba. Remember when you thought Fiyero died? Remember how evil you became? How you nearly killed all those gale force soldiers in a fit of rage. How you kidnapped Dorothy?"

It was as if Summer-No Nessa was trying to break her with all of her terrible memories. She was making her pay. By driving her to insanity once again.

"I'm not wicked! I'm not evil! No.." Elphaba realized she was nearly out of breath. Images were swirling around her head. More memories. Childhood. Mother. Father. Nessarose. Hatred. Glinda. Fiyero. Friendship. Wizard. Morrible. Wicked Witch. Flying Monkeys. Love. Death. Torture. Scarecrow.

As the memories rolled by, she managed to utter one final sentence.

"Nessa. My baby sister, please forgive me."

Nessarose grinned.

Then everything went black.

**

"NOO!"

"Elphaba! Elphaba! Fae!" Elphaba was shook awake by her husband's hand. She was sweating and panting. What a terrible nightmare that had been.

"Yero? Is that you?"

"Yes Fae it's me." Fiyero said. "I came home a few moments ago and found you lying on the couch thrashing around and screaming. What happened?" His eyes were filled with concern.

"Nothing Fiyero. Just….just a nightmare." It felt so real though. _Too_ real. She shivered so much that her teeth started to chatter, but she wasn't cold.

"Must have been one hell of a nightmare. Even Malky seemed worried." He pointed to the cat who was pawing the couch. He then pulled his wife into his embrace.

"I'm glad you're alright Fae. I missed you."

"I missed you too Fiyero. And you're right it was a hell of a nightmare." She laughed a bit, to show her husband that she was alright.

As they hugged once more, she saw over his shoulder the ruby slippers shimmering next to her.

THE END

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed it! Sorry Nessa was so creepy, but you have to remember it was all just a dream……or was it. -Cackles-**

**Review please!!!!**


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